William Jarvis, the last of a dynasty of racehorse trainers stretching back 140 years, calls time on his Newmarket training career

A training dynasty created by Newmarket’s oldest racing family and stretching back nearly 140 years is to come to an end with the announcement that William Jarvis will quit the town’s training ranks at the end of this season.

Mr Jarvis, who is 62, is the last in a long line of Jarvis family members, stretching back to his great grandfather, whose name he bears, and who over the decades were to weave their way into the very fabric of Newmarket’s sporting heritage.

He has been based at Phantom House Stables for nearly 40 years following his father, Ryan, who started training at the Fordham Road yard back in 1952.

“It will be sad that there will no longer a Jarvis training in Newmarket and I’m retiring sooner that I would have liked but I’ve been very privileged and very lucky to

have trained for some wonderful owners over the years such as Lord Howard de Walden, Jim Joel and Peter Player.

“It’s just become economically unviable and at the moment we just haven’t got enough horses to train.

“For me, it has been the horses, whether they are slow or fast, that have made it special for me. It’s been more than a job, it’s been a way of life for me and that’s why my decision is tinged with sadness.”

Mr Jarvis began his training career as assistant to the late Henry Cecil but before that he had been a successful amateur rider on the flat and he said one of his happiest moments remained when he rode a winner on Chance Belle at Redcar in 1977, a horse owned and trained by his father.

As a trainer, he recorded more than 800 career wins at home and abroad and another happy memory from his early years was winning the 1987 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot with Colmore Row whose dam, Front Row, had been trained by his father to win the Irish 1,000 Guineas and was owned by a great family friend and supporter, Doris Allen.

In 1993 he trained Grand Lodge to win the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes and become champion two-year-old and the following year Lord Howard de Walden’s colt was beaten by a head in the 2,000 Guineas before going on to land the St James Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

“It is my one regret that I didn’t manage to train an English Classic winner but it was wonderful compensation to win at the Royal meeting,” he said.

More recently Mr Jarvis and his staff celebrated, with the rest of the town’s racing community when, in 2021, popular filly, Lady Bowthorpe, landed the Group 1 Nassau Stakes at Goodwood.

Throughout his career, Mr Jarvis has been proud to carry on the legacy of his illustrious family whose achievements have left an indelible mark on Newmarket’s racing history.

His great grandfather was married to Leonora Godding, whose father, trainer Jem Godding, was feted for having revived Newmarket’s fortunes as a centre for racehorse training when he sent Macaroni out to win 1863 Derby.

Godding did not live long enough to see his daughter married, but his racing genius was to flow through the blood of her three sons, William Rose Jarvis, Mr Jarvis’s grandfather, who trained for King George V at Egerton House, and sent out the winners of three Classis, Basil Jarvis who trained Papyrus to win the 1923 Derby and Jack, later Sir Jack Jarvis, who trained the winners of nine Classics, including wartime Derby winner Blue Peter.

At Phantom House, trainer Dylan Cunha who had been renting the 25 boxes at its the bottom yard will now take the reins at the main yard.